Dreaming of Winter

Lemon and cardamon sponge cake with berries

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Tue, 22 May 2018 08:01:00 +0000

Now that spring has truly come to Switzerland, I felt in the mood for a delicious, light and bright sponge cake piled high with berries and cream. It reminds me of summer in Sweden relaxing in the archipelago. This sponge cake is so lovely I've baked it at least three times since writing the recipe a few weeks ago. I added the lemon for extra brightness and the cardamon gives it a very subtle spicy note.

240g caster sugar
250g unsalted butter (room temperature)
250g plain flour
5 large eggs
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
The zest of one lemon
A pinch of salt
1/4 tsp of cardamon
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 tsp milk

500 ml cream
1 tsp caster sugar
Raspberry jam
Fresh raspberries
Fresh strawberries
Fresh blueberries
Icing sugar for dusting

Preheat your oven to 175°C. Butter and line a spring form pan with baking paper.

Whisk the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy - it should turn a paler yellow colour. Add in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Keep whisking until the eggs are well combined and the mixture is fluffy. In another bowl mix the flour and baking powder together so they are well combined and then sift this into the egg mixture, adding the lemon zest, cardamon, vanilla essence and milk. Fold in together.

Pour the batter into your spring form pan and place in the oven for 35 minutes. Check to see if it's cooked by inserting a knife into the middle. If it comes out clean, its ready, if not, put it back in for another 5 minutes or so.

Once baked, cool on a wire rack. When the cake is cool, cut the cake in half and fill with jam, whipped cream and fresh berries. cover the top with cream and decorate with more berries and a little icing sugar if you like.

Sit in the sunshine and enjoy a piece of fluffy, delicious cake.

Slow Cooked Beef Massaman Curry

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Sun, 22 Apr 2018 20:08:00 +0000

Thai Massaman Beef Curry

Massaman curry is one of our favourites. Unfortunately, there aren’t many places near us making great versions of it. So we set about re-creating one to our liking.

For us, the meat should be so tender it should fall apart when touched with a fork. The potato should be just right, not too soft and mushy, but not hard either. There should be a healthy hit of peanut flavour and a hint of citrus tang. Not too much to ask for.

To achieve Massaman curry perfection, you’ll need to make it a few times and get a feel for it. The recipe below is our starting point. The key is making sure you cook the beef for a long time.

4 tablespoons of curry paste (store bought, or homemade)
1 kg beef, cut into 2-3 cm cubes
1 kg potatoes
400mL Coconut milk
1 cup peanuts
Cornflour
A Bay leaf
Salt
Palm sugar
1 teaspoon tamarind paste
2 yellow onions, cut into thin wedges
4 cups of water (1 L)

Peel the onions and the potatoes. Chop the potatoes into 3-4cm cubes and cut the onions into thin wedges.

Cut the beef into 3 cm cubes. We used beef shoulder. Dust the beef in a mixture of cornflour and salt, and then brown in the pan and set aside.

Roast the peanuts until golden (3-5 min), and set aside with the beef.

Put half the coconut milk into a large pot on medium heat. Add the Massaman curry paste and stir to break up and infuse. Keep stirring to avoid sticking to the bottom. Add in the beef and peanuts and coat with the thick sauce. Cook for a few minutes until the flavors infuse.

Add in the remaining coconut milk, onions, the bay leaf and the water. (You could add the potato now, although we prefer to cook the meat a bit longer and add the potato an hour before serving)

Bring the liquid up to a simmer, and simmer for around an hour or until the meat is tender. (If you held back the potatoes, don’t forget to add them in.)

Once everything is nice and tender, add in the seasonings of tamarind, palm sugar and salt to taste. The tamarind gives a nice citrus type of flavour, and brightens the curry before serving. You could also use lime juice, or a bit of orange juice for a different take.

Serve over freshly cooked rice.

Ingredients for homemade curry paste (see here)

Eight hour slow roasted lamb with lemon, couscous and tzatziki

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 15:07:00 +0000

Slow cooked lamb is one of life's greatest joys and the addition of lemon to this recipe reduces some of the richness and makes this a perfect spring or summer time meal.

It might sound like a lot of work, but once you taste this recipe, you will feel very happy about your decision to make it! The lamb just falls off the bone in tender pieces, and the vegetables cooked in the juices are delicious. We couldn't stop eating this until nothing was left!

2kg lamb shoulder (enough for four people)
10 cloves of fresh garlic
15 - 20 cherry tomatoes - I chose a mixed variety
2 lemons
1 red onion
6 shallots
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp oregano
1 bay leaf
3 zucchinis
Couscous
2 tbsp salted butter
400g Greek yogurt
1 cucumber
Fresh mint (optional)

On the night before, take your lamb and place it into a large roasting pan. Rub the lamb with olive oil, lemon, salt, cinnamon and oregano.

Optional - the night before I also decanted my Greek yogurt into a strainer to remove some of the liquid and left this to strain overnight.

On the next day, preheat the oven to 160°C.

Take your lamb from the fridge about 30 minutes before you'd like to begin roasting, and rub with more olive oil and salt. Slice the red onion and shallots into rings and place under the lamb, along with most of the garlic and cherry tomatoes. Sprinkle the remaining cherry tomatoes and garlic around the lamb. Cut the lemons into quarters and squeeze over the lamb, then place around the lamb. Place the bay leaf in the pan and then pour about 1cm of water into the pan.

Cover the top of the pan in baking paper and seal the edges with aluminum foil. Place in the oven for 4 hours at 160°C and then for a further 4 hours at 150°C.

Every two hours or so I checked to make sure there was still water, and to baste the lamb with the juices. In the last hour I added the zucchini and a few extra cherry tomatoes. If your lamb isn't golden on top, you may like to turn the oven up to 180°C and bake for an additional 10 minutes uncovered.

For the tzatziki, thinly slice and roughly dice half a cucumber. If needed, remove some of the water from the cucumber using a strainer. Add this to a bowl with the Greek yogurt, 1 or 2 crushed cloves of fresh garlic, salt, mint, and a little olive oil and combine.

For the couscous, I like to bake mine in the oven so that it becomes light, fluffy and delicious. In an oven friendly pot, pour as much couscous as you'd like, then rinse it under some water and pour out most of the water, leaving a tablespoon or two. Add some salt and mix through the couscous. Add a couple of tablespoons of salted butter and place the lid on the pot. Place in the oven at 180°C for around 15 minutes. Fluff the couscous with a fork. Sprinkle with roasted almonds to serve if you like.

A lovely guide to the Black Forest, Germany

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Sun, 11 Mar 2018 09:00:00 +0000

I've always dreamed of visiting the Black Forest, it conjured up images of fairy tales, mysterious woods and beautiful little villages. We also discovered that it was home to one of the loveliest restaurants in Germany - Schwarzwaldstube. So we packed our bags and went on a ten day adventure through this beautiful region, nestled in the south-western corner of Germany.

What route to take?

Firstly, I recommend going by car unless you want to explore by bike. Public transportation dosen't seem easily accessible here, particularly in some of the smaller villages.

There are many routes you can take - following the panoramic Schwarzwaldhochstrasse for example, or the Deutsche Uhrenstraße (The German Clock Route) to visit areas where cuckoo clocks were and are still being made.

We decided to choose our own adventure and stay in Baden-Baden, then travel through the Black Forest towards Freiburg, stopping in a few places along the way.

Tip: If you see brown signs along the roads with something along the lines of Fachwerkhäuser written on it (and quite often accompanied by a little picture of houses), I highly recommend turning off to take a look. They mark beautiful old towns with the traditional Black Forest wooden houses in them.

Baden Baden

First stop on our trip was the charming old-world spa town of Baden Baden. This town is said to have been founded by the Romans and at one time was a favourite haunt of European royalty who came to take the waters. When you are finished visiting the spas, you can wander along the peaceful Lichtentaler Allee that follows the river Oos (but no matter now tempting, don't sit on the grass, apparently that is verboten!).

Lovely Places
When in Rome, go to the naked spa - Baden Baden, as the name suggests, is famous for its thermal baths, and the most famous of all is Friedrichsbad. It's a Roman-Irish bathing experience in 17 stages of steam rooms, massage, showers, bathing, etc. If you are ever feeling sad I can highly recommend reading the trip advisor reviews, a mix of people throwing caution to the wind and enjoying the naked experience, Europeans wondering why people from other countries are so worried about bathing naked, and those who are not so impressed by seeing more of their fellow guests than they had anticipated.

If you'd prefer to wear a swimsuit then the Caracalla spa is the place for you - a series of indoor and outdoor pools and spas of varying temperatures, steam rooms and saunas (this bit is a no-clothing area).

A slightly random thing to see in Baden Baden is the Faberge Museum, with a large collection of Faberge eggs and other treasures.

Dessert at Wintergarten in Baden Baden

Delicious Food
Wintergarten
We enjoyed dinner here so much we had to come twice! Set in the beautiful gardens and what is almost like a glasshouse adjoining Brenners Park hotel and Spa, this restaurant overlooks parkland and the little river that runs through Baden Baden. Service was fantastic and the food was seasonal and delicious - the dessert was even more amazing than it looks in the picture above! If you are lucky you might see a cute white cat prancing in the grass while you eat.

Cafe König
This lovely cafe serves cakes, ice cream sundaes, savory food (but who has time for that in a place like this). Their Black Forest cake was very solid, but quite strong on alcohol, I can highly recommend the parcels of homemade biscuits to take home with you, they were delicious!

Hotel Belle Epoque

Where to stay

Hotel Belle Epoque
We stayed at the beautiful Hotel Belle Epoque and it was charming is a very old world manner. The rooms were ornate and eccentric. Every day there was afternoon tea inside by the fireplace and outside on the terrace. Breakfast was nice but not amazing. Next time I think we'll try Brenners Park hotel and Spa.

Exploring the region

On our way to our next hotel we drove around the region passing sweet little houses and a lot more farmland than I expected. For some reason I thought the whole area was dense with mysterious forests. That said, we did find actual forest by taking a few random turns down tiny little dirt roads. My best suggestion is just to explore and see what you find!

Our next destination was Traube Tonbach in the northern Black Forest area. It's located just near the tiny town of Baiersbronn. This area has 8 Michelin Stars sprinkled across three restaurants. Quite remarkable for such a quiet part of the world!

Traube Tonbach

Not a village, but a destination in it's own right. Our whole reason for going on this trip was to dine at Schwarzwaldstube, and after a few days of looking at nearby accommodation, the hotel attached to the restaurant - Traube Tonbach - seemed like the best option. It's nestled on one side of a valley and yes, the hotel itself looks very 70s, but don't let that put you off. The mostly German clientele have been coming here for years, sometimes generations. Once we got over the austere appearance of our room we began to see why. Service was amazing and we felt at home immediately - it only took a day for the lovely staff here to recognise us and every evening one of the owners would walk around and greet everyone, giving tips for what to see and do.

I think it's one of those places you could just go to for a week and people would ask you what on earth you did in a hotel in a random valley in the Black Forest and you'd not really be able to offer a convincing reply - oh I ate the most delicious breakfast of my life (it really was, I've never had a better hotel breakfast), or I spent five hours in the spa every day and tried all twelve of the saunas, or I went on a very nice hike past lots of wildflowers - but you'd come back feeling relaxed and very happy and wanting to book another trip.

Five minutes walk from the hotel was this beautiful path leading to numerous hiking trails. One day the hotel packed us a picnic lunch to take on our hike and we found a backpack filled with champagne, a delicious assortment of sandwiches, salad and dessert.

Schwarzwaldstube

One of the nights we were there we had dinner at the three Michelin starred Schwarzwaldstube. The restaurant is modern yet with small wooden details that remind you that you are in the Black Forest.

We both had the large degustation menu and it was filled with delicious seasonal offerings. The food looked and tasted like what it was supposed to be, which I really appreciated. There were less tricks and crazy techniques than some others we've been to (thank goodness), instead the chefs focused on delicious flavour, rich sauces and fresh, seasonal produce. Service was amazing.

We decided to enjoy the moment and so didn't take any photos (we are bad food bloggers!), but their website is filled with enough to tempt you into visiting!

Gegenbach

One of the last stops on our Black Forest adventure was Gegenbach. It's one of the most picturesque towns in the region, and the number of tour buses arriving testified to that. It definitely wasn't the most calm place, but worth a quick stop. I found an amazing antique store just off the main square - unfortunately it had only just opened and the owner didn't have a sign yet so I have no idea what it is called, but he was selling very well priced, beautiful items from France - if you can find it you won't be disappointed.

Freiburg

Lastly we traveled to Freiburg, the medieval self proclaimed gateway to the Black Forest. This was the only part of the trip I didn't really enjoy. I found the city really crowded and not very charming. It might be worth visiting as a day trip, but I would spend the night in a cute village nearby!

Sausage rolls with caramelized onion and tomato sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Mon, 05 Mar 2018 15:47:00 +0000

After many weeks of grey, cold, snowy weather here in Switzerland, all I could think about having for lunch this weekend was a delicious sausage roll to remind me of Australia. This recipe is inspired by one from our favourite cooking magazine - Australian Gourmet Traveller.

Sausage rolls

600g puff pastry (I used two 300g pieces)
600g minced beef
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp bread crumbs
1 small onion very finely chopped
Two eggs - one for the filling, one lightly beaten for washing the sausage rolls
Sesame seeds (optional for sprinkling over the top)

Caramelized red onion and tomato sauce

3 red onions
1 tomato
1 red capsicum
2 cloves of garlic (I like fresh garlic as it tastes a little more sweet), finely chopped or crushed
1 tsp of smoked paprika
4 tbsp of passata
3 tsp apple cider vinegar

For the caramelized red onion and tomato sauce, begin by finely slicing the three red onions into half moons, then cooking very slowly on a low heat in your frying pan with a good dollop of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt. It will take at least 20 minutes of slow cooking for them to begin to caramelize.

While the onions are cooking, slice your capsicum into strips and drizzle with a little oil and then place them in the oven on a baking tray at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes until golden.

Once the onions are caramelized, deglaze the pan with your apple cider vinegar and add in the garlic, then the paprika and chopped fresh tomato, turning the heat of the stove up a little.

Cook for another 10 minutes or so before adding in the passata and capsicum from the oven. Blend with a stick blender and then season to taste.

For the sausage rolls, preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celcius. Dry roast the cumin seeds in a pan then crush with a mortar and pestle. In a bowl combine the beef, breadcrumbs, spices, onion, egg, and salt (also pepper if you like) and mix well.

Take your puff pastry out of the fridge and cut into 45cm x 15cm pieces or into a rectangular shape that works with the size of your dough and gives you room to completely encase your minced meat. Place the filling in a sausage shape near to one edge. Wash the inside with egg and wrap the dough around to form a cylinder and seal the edges. Then refrigerate for 10 minutes or so.

When you want to bake them, take the rolls out of the fridge and slice into 6cm long pieces. Slice along the top, wash with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 25 minutes on a tray. Eat with your delicious sauce and be happy!

An alternative filling would be to toast a handful of pine nuts in a fry pan until golden, and add these once cool, along with a small handful of raisins to the mixture to have more of a kofte filling. You could even use lamb mince in place of beef. These would be delicious with a tzatziki dip!

Mulled Apple Cider

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Sun, 10 Dec 2017 13:26:00 +0000

This recipe is for days when you feel like something warm, Christmassy, and non-alcoholic. It's the perfect thing to make alongside glühwein for parties. This is a super easy recipe, perfect for a snowy day like the one we are having now in Zürich.

Side story - if you ever visit a Swedish Christmas market, because of strict alcohol laws, you'll actually find yourself sipping non-alcoholic glögg (the Swedish version of glühwein, although far sweeter - more like undiluted cordial - with some almonds and raisins sprinkled in the bottom of the tiny cup), as it's forbidden to sell alcohol in public places.

You'll need:
- Two liters of cloudy apple juice - I find this far more delicious than normal apple juice, and it's often not as sweet. Bonus - the antioxidants in cloudy apple juice are twice as high as in clear apple juice, so this is almost healthy!
- 1 cinnamon stick broken in half
- 5 or so whole cloves
- The rind of one lemon and one orange
- 5 cardamon pods
- diced fresh ginger - around 2 tablespoons.

Place all the ingredients in a pot and warm very slowly on the stove. I like to put mine on one of the lowest heat settings and allow it to warm over thirty or forty minutes, giving time for the spices to infuse into the juice. Then simple strain the juice as you serve. Enjoy!

In bonus news, we bought our Christmas tree on Friday during a snow storm, which was very fitting, although slightly inconvenient as it meant we had to leave it outside our apartment to dry for a night. We decorated it yesterday during another snow storm, just before going to see the Nutcracker, so things are feeling very lovely and wintry here in Switzerland.

The loveliest Christmas markets in Europe

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Mon, 27 Nov 2017 12:30:00 +0000

I love Christmas time in Europe. The streets are strung with glittering lights and little stands selling steaming mugs of spiced wine begin to pop up on every corner. My favourite thing by far however are the Christmas markets.

It might seem slightly early for this post, but as most Christmas markets open around the 24th of November, it's a perfect time to plan.

A couple of tips: Especially for markets in Germany and Austria - bring cash, as many markets don't accept card. In fact for those two countries I would extend this advice to shops and restaurants in general. You don't want to have to run around on a snowy evening to try and find cash to pay your restaurant bill.

If you hate crowds then avoid the markets at night on Fridays and Saturdays as they are normally at their busiest then.

Lastly, Christmas markets are popular travel destinations and many hotels can be booked out a month or two in advance. If there is a particular market you'd like to visit, I'd suggest booking your accommodation early.

Vienna Markets

Vienna was the first city I ever visited a Christmas market in, and it will forever hold a place in my heart. I immediately fell in love with the coziness of them, the food, the music, collecting beautiful decorations for my tree, and the fact that this is where my friends and I caught up for mugs of warm glühwein and a chat over the course of November and December. Why meet in a bar when you can meet at a Christmas market?

For me, Vienna is one of the Christmas capitals of Europe, and so there are a large number of markets sprinkled across the city. These are my favourite:

Rathaus Christkindlmarkt

The Rathausplatz Christkindlmarkt is the largest and most touristy in Vienna, but it's definitely worth visiting. There are over 150 little wooden stalls selling Christmas decorations, glühwein, wooden toys, tea, chocolate and more. There is also a 3,000m2 ice skating ring, and activities just for children including a reindeer train and Ferris wheel.

Schönbrunn

Schönbrunn Christmas Market proves that good things come in small packages. There are 80 lovely stalls sprinkled in front of beautiful Schönbrunn palace selling goods ranging from exquisite hand decorated gingerbread, to ceramics and spices. Also, if you've never visited Schönbrunn, then add it to your list. Walking through the palace makes you feel as though you've just stepped back in time, and that those who live there have momentarily left the room. In summer the gardens are also incredibly beautiful.

The Art Advent Market on Karlsplatz sells beautiful handmade objects, including photographs, Christmas decorations, scarfs, paintings, stained glass, and makeup. I've also bought some beautiful Christmas cards here in the past. A word of warning - don't take photos of the stalls or you may be yelled at.

Zürich Wienachtsdorf at Sechseläutenplatz

This lovely Christmas market is located in the square opposite the opera house and is by far the best market in Zürich. The thing I especially love about it is the food selection. I've never seen another Christmas market where you can choose between options as varied as fondue, Thai, dumplings, and Sri Lankan street food.

Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt

This Christmas market is one of Germany's oldest, starting around the mid 16th century and growing exponentially to it's current size. There is something very lovely about wandering the streets of Nuremberg's old town where almost every part is filled with little stalls selling glühwein, crepes, chocolate, leading you to the town's main square which becomes a Christmas market extravaganza.

Nuremberg itself is a beautiful town and there is so much to see, particularly for those with a passion for history.

Beautiful Innsbrück

Innsbrück Oldtown Christmas Market

Innsbrück is one of the prettiest cities in Austria, filled with colourful buildings and surrounded by snow-capped mountains. The Christmas market in the old town is incredibly charming, and although quite small, it's one of the few markets left that sells genuinely beautiful Christmas decorations.

The Gendarmenmarkt Christmas Market in Berlin

This market is located on one of the most beautiful squares in Germany nestled between the Französicher Dom and the Deutscher Dom. It's filled with delicious food and some sweet little shops selling Christmas decorations and other bits and pieces.

Although Berlin is packed with markets at this time of year, this is by far my favourite for atmosphere and food. There is a 1 Euro entrance fee which covers entertainment and a percentage of which also goes to charity.

Strasbourg Markets

We just visited the markets in Strasbourg this weekend, and fell in love with the beautiful old city centre. Although I didn't really see any nice Christmas decorations, there were some very pretty pottery stalls and sweet hand-carved wooden children's toys. Food was plentiful and delicious - mostly hearty wintry fare including potato and bacon in a creamy sauce, spätzle and toasted baguettes covered in cheese and bacon.

If you can't get to any of the markets this year, but you'd like to have some delicious glühwein at home, then why not try my recipe.

Spicy pumpkin soup

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Mon, 20 Nov 2017 09:00:00 +0000

Geoff and I are just back from a lovely break in autumnal New York. I've always wanted to visit at this time of year to see the red and gold leaves in Central Park, and also to be able to walk around town without it being too hot (last time I was there is was over 35 degrees every day) or too cold (I was also there when it was -20, which while it was beautiful to see everything dusted in snow, did mean I had to run from shop to shop so I didn't die of frostbite, and also meant a worrying large number of people were wearing balaclavas which made my already quite active imagination run far more wildly than I'd prefer).

While we were there we visited ABC Kitchen for lunch, which was by far our favourite food of the trip, even beating The Dining room at Gramercy Tavern. For my starter I had a deliciously creamy, but also slightly spicy pumpkin soup, and decided I wanted to recreate it now that winter has well and truly reached Zurich.

You'll need:

One butternut pumpkin, or other pumpkin of your choice
Three large carrots
An onion
3 cloves of garlic
A two centimeter long piece of fresh ginger
1 liter of chicken stock (homemade or using a stock cube)
1 tsp of turmeric
1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
A good grating of fresh nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
Sour cream
Dill or chives
Roasted pumpkin seeds

Preheat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Chop your pumpkin into chunks and drizzle with olive oil and place on a tray in the oven until golden. Of course you can just boil the pumpkin alongside everything else, but I find that by roasting it in the oven, it adds a lovely caramelized flavour to the soup.

Meanwhile, finely shop your onion, garlic and fresh ginger and saute in the pot in which you'll make your soup. Once this is golden, add in your spices, then your carrots and cook for a further minute or two. De-glaze with chicken stock. I happened to have made fresh chicken stock earlier in the week (I normally make an enormous pot and freeze a few one liter bags for when I need it in the future), otherwise you can use a stock cube. If you're vegetarian then vegetable stock would also be lovely.

Once your pumpkin is cooked, add this to the soup, and a little more water if needed. Cook until the carrots are soft.

Blend everything together using a stick blender - you can either leave it a little rustic and chunky, or blend until perfectly smooth. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed, and even a little more spice.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of dill. Roasted pumpkin seeds would also be a delicious addition to this healthy and delicious soup.

Appeltaart (Dutch apple pie)

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Mon, 02 Oct 2017 08:00:00 +0000

One wintry morning many years ago while wandering around the Jordan area of Amsterdam I saw a line curling out the door of a little cafe called Winkel 43. For some strange reason I decided to join it - normally I avoid queues at all cost - but I think it was the ever present light sprinkling of rain that tipped me over the edge. Once I reached the front of the queue I saw piles of tall, hot apple pies and whipped cream. Ordering a piece, I sat at the bar and took a bite - the crust was crunchy, sweet and perfectly salty, the apples were delicious, firm, and best of all, still warm. This will forever be the best queue I've ever joined in my life.

I was just back in Amsterdam a week ago with Geoff and my mother - taking her back to her mother's hometown for the first time in about 40 years. One of the first things we did was have a slice of appeltaart at Winkel 43, and she wanted to go back every morning we were there.

Sadly I don't have Winkel 43's secret recipe, but this recipe makes a delicious Dutch apple pie for while you aren't in Amsterdam.

For the crust

200g almond flour (I blended whole blanched almonds until they reached a flour like consistency but you can also buy this at the supermarket)
400g self raising flour (I used plain flour and added 4 tsp baking powder)
220g brown sugar
350g butter (cold cut into cubes)
A good pinch of salt (one of the things I like most about the apple pie at Winkel 43 is that it has a lovely slightly salty crust to balance the sweetness of the filling)
2 eggs

For the filling

8 apples (I used 5 gala apples and 3 Jonagold apples - they just happened to be the loveliest apples I could find here in Switzerland)
60g brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp speculaas spice (I bought mine in the supermarket in the Netherlands, but it's just a mixture of cinnamon, coriander seeds, nutmeg, cardamon and so on. Here is a nice recipe to make your own spice - otherwise just use mostly cinnamon and a little bit of nutmeg, clove and cardamon)
The rind and juice of a lemon - if you have a particularly large lemon just add 3/4 of the juice
2 tsp of cornstarch
A handful of raisins if you like (normally I hate raisins with a passion, however in this pie they actually weirdly work)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius unless you have an overly enthusiastic oven like mine - I set it to 170.

To make the crust
Mix the sugar and butter until combined - I used my Kitchen Aid, but a food processor would also be fine, then add in the two lightly beaten eggs. After this mix in the almond flour, self raising flour and salt until thoroughly mixed. Don't be afraid - this isn't like normal pastry dough - it's supposed to be much less stiff. Set aside in the bowl until later with a little cling wrap or tea towel to cover.

To make the filling
Peel and cut the apples into pieces (I cut the apple in quarters and then halved each quarter). Add the lemon peel and juice, the sugar, spices and corn flour and mix well. Set aside.

Putting it all together
For this recipe you'll want to use a spring form pan. Dutch appeltaarts are supposed to be quite high and very heavy, and you'll need the spring form so you can actually get it out in one piece. Lightly butter the sides and bottom and then line with baking paper over this - I find the butter helps the paper to stick and not move about when you are putting the dough into it. Then lightly butter over the paper as well.

Take your dough (Leaving a quarter for the top) and push it into the pan until the sides and bottom are covered - this is more like molding biscuit dough than rolling out traditional pastry. Then give your apples a good toss to make sure the sugar and spices and well distributed and tip them into the pan.

Take the final quarter of dough and place this over the top - I just took bits at a time, tried to flatten them a bit and then placed them over the apples, joining them to the sides. Ideally your apples will pile a little higher than the top of the tin as they'll shrink will baking. Make sure to cut two vents in the top to allow the steam to escape. If you want you can also wash an egg over the top and sprinkle with sugar.

It ends up looking a bit rustic, but this is part of the joy of this taart - it's delicious and spicy, and not supposed to be too perfect.

Baking
Place in the oven for an hour and then check - I ended up leaving it in an additional 15 minutes, but just check how golden your crust is and use a knife through the vents to see how cooked the apples are. Remember I baked mine at 170 degrees Celsius, not 180 degrees (although I always put my oven 10 degrees cooler than any recipe says).

To serve
Set the pie aside to cool for a good hour or so before cutting. Serve it with double cream (or even macadamia nut ice cream) and be blissfully happy.

And if you are ever in Amsterdam, do yourself an enormous favour and stop in for a slice of apple pie at Winkel 43.

An adventure to Fäviken Magasinet

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Mon, 11 Sep 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Last October, Geoff and I went on a lovely adventure to the north of Sweden to visit the two Michelin starred Fäviken Magasinet. I can't imagine a more beautiful time of year to visit northern Sweden, as autumn leaves turned the forests shades of orange and red, and frost coated the grass on misty mornings.

Beautiful Jämtland

Making a booking

Getting a table can be hard - my suggestion is to stalk their website and check the time and date that bookings become available. Then book the moment they come out. All the places are taken almost immediately, so you'll need to be fast, especially if you want to stay at the restaurant hotel.

Getting there

We flew from Stockholm to Östersund then hired a car to drive the 1 hour and 15 minutes to Fäviken.

Misty morning at Fäviken

Where to stay

We stayed at the accommodation offered by the restaurant. It was a simple room, and everyone shared bathrooms and showers as well as a sauna. It's pretty basic but I found it lovely and cosy. It's probably a good option if you are fond of wine because there is really nowhere else to stay nearby, and I have no idea if there are taxis to and from Fäviken - it's really in a beautiful forest in the middle of nowhere.

If you can't get a room at Fäviken, or you'd prefer to stay elsewhere then the ski resort of Åre is only a 30 minute drive away with plenty of hotels.

Dinner at Fäviken

In true Swedish egalitarian style, before dinner we were seated with other guests for drinks and some food, which was a really nice way to meet new people. Then it was time to move upstairs to the main minimalist Scandinavian dining room.

There were around 16 or so courses ranging from moose to lamb tongue to an ash coated egg. Geoff enjoyed the scallop (pictured above). One enjoyable surprise for me was the brown cheese pie (brunost), which when I originally read the menu sounded a little too savory for what I was hoping for a dessert, but in fact tasted like caramel. It was served with very sour gompa, which is a traditional Sami dish made from the herb angelica.

After dinner we were ushered back downstairs by the fire with our new pre-dinner friends and we spent the rest of the evening enjoy wine and some final little dishes with them.

Breakfast perfection

This might be blasphemy, but one of the highlights for me was breakfast the next morning. Sometimes in life you really can't beat the simple beauty of good quality ham, cheese, butter and warm bread straight from the oven. It was topped by a warm hallongrotta, which is incidentally my favourite Swedish biscuit of all time - think shortbread with a dollop of raspberry jam in the middle.

All in all, diner at Fäviken was a memorable experience and a beautiful end to our time in Sweden (for now). I felt as though we were being taken on a journey through Sweden experiencing local produce and dishes I hadn't tried before, but sadly it wasn't always delicious. If you wish to see an absolutely stunning part of Sweden and have a dining experience unlike any other then it is worth the adventure there but if you only have time for one Michelin dining experience in Sweden then Frantzen in Stockholm is still my favourite by far.

What else to see in the area

If you come in winter then this part of Sweden is very popular for skiing - very near by is the ski resort of Åre. Åre Glashytta, where the beautiful hand made glasses at Fäviken are from can also be found here.

Östersund where we flew in was quite cute and was worth exploring for a couple of hours. If you are interested in history, you can see the Frösö runestone on the nearby island of Frösön.

This area of Sweden is basically beautiful forests sprinkled with lakes, so it's just lovely to drive through and explore a part of the world that is quite untouched and peaceful.

Macadamia nut ice cream with mango and speculaas crumble

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Mon, 04 Sep 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Lately the shops in Zürich have been piled high with beautiful ripe mangoes, reminding me of my mother's house in tropical Queensland. So I decided to take advantage of this Swiss mango season and make something very bright and summery for dessert along with the help of my little herb garden where lately the mint has been growing wildly. Speculaas, a Dutch gingerbread biscuit, goes well with almost anything on earth, so I never need an excuse to make some.

Ingredients

One fresh mango cut into small cubes
Fresh mint

Macadamia nut ice cream

If you don't have the time/desire to make ice cream from scratch just buy your favourite flavour from the shops - the rest is very quick and easy. For those who'd like to try:

500 ml milk
500 ml pouring cream
6 egg yolks
150 g caster sugar
1 - 2 vanilla beans
120 g lightly toasted macadamia nuts

Speculaas crumble

150g wholemeal flour
50 g toasted whole almonds
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp salt
90 g brown sugar
110 g unsalted butter

For the macadamia nut ice cream add the milk and cream to a pan, then slice a vanilla bean in half and scrape the seeds into the pan as well as the whole bean and half the sugar. I added a second vanilla bean because I decided I wanted a very vanillary ice cream. A good quality vanilla bean should be quite bendy with an oily exterior, try to avoid stiff and dry vanilla beans.

Warm the cream and milk mixture until it almost begins to boil. Take off the heat and in another bowl whisk the remaining sugar with the egg yolks until light and fluffy. Add to the milk mixture and stir continuously until the mixture can coat the back of a spoon. Don't let it get too hot or it will curdle and you'll have to start again.

Strain and set the mixture in a metal bowl set inside another bowl filled with ice. Place in the refrigerator when it's cooled to room temperature, and then leave until completely cool.

Then add the mixture into your ice cream machine - mine takes around 50 to 60 minutes to set - add the lightly chopped macadamia nuts towards the end when the consistency is quite thick or the nuts will fall to the bottom. If you don't have an ice cream machine you can also place your bowl in the freezer and then stir with a whisk every 30 minutes or so until it's reached an ice cream like consistency.

For the speculaas crumble, preheat the oven to 180 degrees and cover a tray with baking paper.

Use a food processor to grind the almonds to a fine consistency and then add this to the flour, spices, salt and sugar. Add the butter until the dough reaches a nice crumbly texture.

Crumble the dough onto the baking paper and place in the oven for 15 minutes. Once cool, crumble again and leave aside. I've also frozen some unbaked speculaas crumble so that I can easily defrost it and bake it when needed.

Slice the mango into cubes and add fresh mint. Serve and be happy.

A lovely guide to Stockholm

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 10:02:00 +0000

After almost seven years living in Stockholm, I've narrowed down the loveliest places to eat, drink, shop and be merry. My favourite time in Sweden is summer when the sun hardly sets and the cities are deserted, but come in December and you'll also find cute little Christmas markets sprinkled throughout town and plenty of cosy cafes lit with candles to sit and sip coffee in.

Where to stay

Miss Clara is a beautiful hotel right in the heart of Stockholm near restaurants, public transport and shops. Also, the breakfast is delicious! Since we moved to Switzerland I've stayed here about five times and it's always been wonderful.

Rosendals Trädgård

Delicious food: lunch, coffee and sweet treats

In Sweden stopping for fika (to have coffee, maybe with something sweet and a chat) is a national past time, so it's not surprising that Stockholm is filled with cosy cafes dedicated to allowing you to do just that.

Pascals is my favourite cafe in Stockholm. Really lovely food (the salads are fantastic, nice soups and toasted sandwiches), delicious coffee (and an excellent tea selection from In the Mood for Tea across the road) and friendly owners. If you visit one cafe in Stockholm let it be this one.

Vetekatten is a famous cake shop in Stockholm. They also have salads and sandwiches (but why would you?). Try the famous Swedish princess torte, this cafe has the best one in Sweden (it's layers of berries, cream, spongecake and then with the famous green marzipan outside).

Älskade Traditioner is a super cute cafe with a 1950s vibe. They have delicious sweet and savory waffles, and an endless supply of freshly baked delights. Also, their milkshakes are a sight to be seen, piled high with cream and brownies.

Rosendals Trädgård is a beautiful farm on Djurgården (near Skansen museum) with a cafe serving cakes and dishes of the day fresh from their garden. They also have a nice bakery with freshly baked bread and goods from the farm like apple juice from their orchard. In summer you can sit under the apple trees and in winter by the fireplace in their greenhouse.

Drop coffee has really nice coffee but average food. Just near Maria Torget on Södermalm.

Teatern is a food court, but it's not like a normal, boring, soul destroying one - firstly it's all bronze accents with dark paint, then much of the food is by top chefs in Sweden. Ramen, pizza, hotdogs from the chef at Fäviken, cakes from the guy who makes the desserts for the Nobel prize ceremony, etc.

Stikki Nikki makes really nice ice cream and there are a few of these sprinkled around Stockholm.

Fabrique is a bakery chain, but it's really nice. You can try a famous Swedish kannelbullar (cinnamon buns), or better still a kardemummabullar (cardamon buns) here. It's honestly tastier than in many cafes in Stockholm. Their sourdough bread is also amazing, and in winter, try the soft gingerbread. This place is one of the things I miss most about Stockholm.

Delicious food: dinner

Before I start, let me suggest you book ahead, and by ahead I mean two weeks ahead for many places. Some are booked out three or four weeks ahead. But don't be afraid, you can book basically everything in Sweden online (you can even buy a house by text message, but that is a story for another day).

Also, if you are coming in summer then I really, highly, recommend that you check if things are open beforehand because many places close for weeks (the dreaded sommarstängt sign), some even for a month or two (how?) and you don't want to just turn up and try your luck or you may end up wandering the deserted summery streets of Stockholm for hours (everyone is at their summer houses, you did not accidentally wake up in 24 Days Later) never seeing a soul.

Miss Clara restaurant - I have no idea if this restaurant has an official name, but the food is seasonal and delicious, the wine selection is great, and the service is always very friendly. I've been here about 10 times and never had anything but a fantastic experience, so I have no idea why it's often half empty. Let's change that!

Shanti Gossip is an amazing, TINY Bengali restaurant - the food is so good and the mango lassi is a delight. It's just near Nytorget on Södermalm. I can highly recommend the lamb biryani and the Monsoon rain sabji.

Farang has delicious Southeast Asian food in a beautiful setting (inside that is, outside looks like a bunker).

For high quality Swedish food try Tranan near Odenplan.

The Flying Elk is a hipstery gastropub (can a gastropub be anything but hipster?) in the old town owned by the chef that runs the Michelin starred restaurant Frantzen (see below).

Nybrogaten 38 in Östermalm has nice bistro type food. Book well in advance.

Hermans is a chilled out vegetarian restaurant perched on the cliffs of Södermalm looking out over Stockholm. It has even been endorsed by non-vegetarian meat loving friends.

Urban deli is a hipster gourmet food market and restaurant. The restaurant is normally very good at the Sveavägen location (for some reason not as good at Nytorget).

Dessert at Frantzen

Michelin recommendations

If you'd like to treat yourself then please go to Frantzen. They are opening again at the end of August 2017 and obviously I haven't been back since they re-opened as sadly I can't time travel (yet!), but this has been the loveliest, most delicious Michelin starred restaurant (I think they had/have two stars) we've even been to. Geoff and I can often be found reminiscing about our time eating there (generally when we have visited somewhere that is unfortunately more 'challenging' than delicious), and I'm sure it'll be just as good when it opens again.

Ekstedt has one star and revolves around the theme of smoke and cooking with fire. We had a lovely experience here and the service, food and atmosphere was wonderful - we also had an interesting tour of the kitchen.

A little lynx at Skansen

Museums

The photography museum always has an interesting collection of exhibitions, and normally one quite bad one. Definitely worth a visit, and the cafe on the top floor is delicious with amazing views across Stockholm.

Skansen is an open air museum with buildings from around Sweden, sometimes with people dressed up in character (which was an unexpected discovery upon entering one little house and gave me a bit of a fright). There are also Nordic animals like reindeer and elks.

Vasamuseet is a place where you can see an interesting old ship that sank on it's maiden voyage in 1628 and was preserved in the sea until someone thought it a good idea to lift it from its watery grave.

Shopping

If you want a cute souvenir, visit Iris Hantverk. It has beautiful things made in Sweden, like woolen blankets, handcrafted brushes and pottery. There is one right next door to Vetekatten. I never walk into that dangerous place without buying something.

Illums Bolighus in the city center is a wonderful mecca for Danish design.

Posh living always has an fantastic selection of Scandinavian home design. Their shop at Mood is particularly nice.

On the hipster island of Södermalm, I love the area around Nytorget for shopping - there are lots of little independent boutiques, coffee shops and restaurants. Not to mention the square itself is beautiful.

Biblioteksgatan in upscale Östermalm is a good place to start to find lots of shops like &Otherstories, Rodebjer, Acne, etc.

Uppsala

Lovely day trips from Stockholm

Uppsala is a very cute student town 45 minutes away by train from Stockholm

In Gamla Uppsala you can visit viking burial mounds.

Vaxholm is a sweet little town with a fortress known as the gateway to the archipelago.

Fjaderholmarna - If you don't want to go to Vaxholm, Fjaderholmarna a little island closer to Stockholm and has some cafes and artisans. The boats for Fjaderholmarna and Vaxholm leave around the same place.

Welcome back to Dreaming of Winter

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 18:26:00 +0000

Back in 2011 Geoff and I stopped posting on this blog as we moved from Melbourne, Australia to the beautiful little student town of Uppsala in Sweden.

After almost seven years in Stockholm, Sweden, we've now moved to Zürich in Switzerland and will be reviving this blog to share our love of wintry food, and also travel to some of the world's most beautiful destinations.

Luzern, Switzerland

Zürich is a perfect place to explore Europe from, especially the mountainous regions of Austria, Switzerland and Italy that we love so much. We can't wait to share it all with you!

Mürren, Switzerland

Michelle and Geoff

Coconut White Hot Chocolate

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:40:00 +0000

Today was cold and overcast, and I was in the mood for hot chocolate – white hot chocolate with coconut to be precise.

This is a simple recipe and will take you 10 minutes to make – even less if you don’t want whipped cream (although it does make it extra delicious).

Ingredients for two large mugs of hot chocolate:
A handful or so of good quality white chocolate
100 ml Coconut milk
Grated coconut
150 ml cream
250 ml milk

Then:
Whip the cream with a sprinkle of grated coconut.

In a small saucepan add in the milk, the coconut milk, and the chocolate. Stir on a low heat until the chocolate has completely melted.

Pour into mugs and top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of grated coconut.

Enjoy!

Hungarian Goulash

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 20:52:00 +0000

After trying Fiakergulasch for the first time in Vienna, goulash was something I wanted to make at home.
The history of goulash has it starting as a herdsman's dish in Hungry. Over time it has evolved into a restaurant dish, somewhere between a stew and a soup.
There seems to be many different variants on how to make an authentic goulash, a little bit like an authentic bolognese sauce. For my first attempt, I am basing my goulash on June Meyer's recipe:

50g butter (or lard)
1L water
1 kg beef cubes (2-3 cm)
2 onions, chopped
2-3 tablespoons sweet paprika
2 bay leaves
4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
pepper & salt
sour cream to serve

For the dumplings, you need:

1 egg
1/3 cup flour
pinch of salt

In a large pot, melt the butter and cook the onions until browned.
Add in the beef, paprika and a teaspoon of salt. On a low heat, simmer the beef in its juices for about an hour. This forms a rich sauce that is the main flavour of the final dish.
Add in the water, bay leaf and a bit more salt. Add in some black pepper to taste. Bring back to the boil, cover and simmer until the potatoes are cooked through and the meat is tender. Around 30-45 minutes.
While the goulash is simmering, make the egg dumplings.
Combine the flour, an egg and a pinch of salt into a dough. Stand the dough for half an hour.
When the dough has settled, make small dumpling balls and drop into the goulash. Once the dumplings start to float, cover and simmer for a further 5 minutes.
Serve with a generous dollop of sour cream and enjoy.

Shanghai Scallions (葱油饼) with Smoked Salmon

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 04:12:00 +0000

Over at the Almost Bourdain blog is a very simple recipe for Shanghai Scallions (葱油饼), a savory dough like pancake. This is a bit like an up market Australian damper.

They are quite easy to make, and the ingredient list is stuff you likely have lying around the house. After I'd made them a few times, we were looking for something simple for lunch, and tried them as a base for salmon and a bit of dill. Not quite traditional, but very tasty!

To make this, you will need:

250 g all-purpose flour, with some extra for dusting
1/2 teaspoon of salt
110 ml warm water
20 g spring onions, finely chopped from the green part of the onion
50 g vegetable oil
smoked salmon
cream cheese
dill
a drop or two of lemon juice

Making the pancakes takes a bit of preparation, for full details, refer to this article.

To make the dough mix the sifted flour and salt, then slowly mix in the warm water. It took a few attempts at making these until I got the dough consistency to my liking, however they still taste great if the dough isn't quite right.
Rest the dough under cling wrap for half an hour or so.
Split the dough into two pieces and then roll out into a quite thin circle. The thinner you get it, the better the pancakes turn out.
Brush the surface of the pancake with a generous amount of the vegetable oil, and sprinkle the spring onions around. This helps the layers form, so don't skimp on the oil.
Roll the pancake and then pinch the ends together. Then flatten slightly and twist into a spiral. (Look at the pictures here).
Flatten the spiral into a pancake. Either use your hands or the rolling pin.
Cook the pancake in a fry pan on medium heat, with some oil, for 3-4 minutes on each side. If the pan is too hot, the outside will burn and the middle will be raw. Cut into wedges and serve.
For the topping, mix together a generous amount of dill and the lemon with the cream cheese. Spread generously over the pancake wedges and top with the smoked salmon.

The pancakes are a great side dish, and with the salmon make a very tasty lunch.

Gingerbread Snowflakes

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:20:00 +0000

We are back from two wonderful weeks in Sweden - we visited Stockholm, Örebro and Uppsala. We had a fantastic time catching up with old friends and making some new ones.

Here is a recipe for the gingerbread snowflakes I made for my birthday dinner a few weeks ago. Actually I used the same recipe I did for the gingerbread Christmas tree back in December, but I think they are quite a bit cuter than the christmas tree.

I'll just post it here again:

You will need:

1/2 cups of brown sugar
130 g unsalted butter
1/2 cup golden syrup (or treacle)
1 egg, separated
3 cups of plain flour
1 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tbsp ground cloves
1 tsp bicarb soda
200 g icing sugar
Snow flake cutter

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Combine your butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and when smooth separate your egg and add the yoke into the mix and combine. Combine in the golden syrup.

Sift in the flour, bi carb soda and spices and combine with the rest of the mixture.

Knead into a smooth ball and wrap in cling wrap and then place in the fridge for at least an hour, but I would recommend a couple of days so the spicy flavours thoroughly infuse the dough.

After at least an hour (I left mine in the fridge over night), take the dough from the fridge and lightly dust a clean surface with some plain flour and well as lightly dusting your rolling pin with flour as well.

Take a little of your dough and roll it until it is fairly thin, no more that about 4 mm high and put them on trays covered in baking paper and place them in the oven for about 10 minutes until they are golden brown.

Repeat for the remaining dough.

Once the biscuits have cooled, it is time to ice them.

For the icing put your leftover egg white to good use by using an electric mixer to mix it until it forms fairly stiff peaks and then sift in the icing sugar and combine. Add in a couple of drops of food colouring if you like. I used a couple of different bowls and added red to one, blue to another and left another white.

The icing part took me a looooong time to get the hang of - not only to get the correct consistency for the icing (add more icing sugar for finer details), but also to be able to ice without the snowflakes looking like they had been iced by someone who had just had 7 bottles of vodka. Finally after about 10 biscuits that looked so ugly I made Geoff eat them so they would not see the light of day, I got the hang of it.

I am looking forward to making more soon to practice my icing skills (and because they are delicious!)

Bitterballen

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 04:23:00 +0000

A couple of weekends ago Geoff and I had a dinner party to celebrate my birthday with some friends. Apart from making a huge pot of glühwein using my recipe, which is a yearly tradition for me, I also made gingerbread snowflakes, tartiflette and bitterballen.

Unfortunately by the time the tartiflette was ready, we were all a little hungry so we did not take photos of it for me to post up the recipe, so I'll just have to make it again. It was divine - how could anything involving the combination of potatoes, crème fraiche, white wine, jambon, brie, garlic, onions and thyme not be.

I decided to also make bitterballen as they are something I loved to eat growing up, but I had been reluctant to make them due to stories of the ridiculous amount of time it takes to create them. This proved to be (relatively) untrue. They took two days to make, but don't be fooled - they were not two full days of cooking or I'd have served dips, Turkish bread, double smoked gypsy ham and cheeses like I did last year - just a couple of hours on both days.

I have used the recipe from the ridiculously amazing book 'Snow Flakes and Schnapps' by Jane Lawson, I took the idea of adding in ketjap manis from this gorgeous food blog, and of course called my mother 15 times to get tips and help from her, plus to check if the recipe sounded like how my grandmother used to make them - and as always changing things around a bit for my own entertainment.

Bitterballen and their longer, larger, more sausage shaped friends kroketten are scrumptious Dutch snacks that have a soft meaty filling surrounded by a crispy coating of fried breadcrumbs. Dip them in whichever mustard makes you happy and life can really not get much better, especially on a cold and rainy night, such was my birthday party (well as cold as Australia can get!).

As with many staple foods around the world, bitterballen were created to use up scraps of things lying around, in this case meat, and reformed into something new and tasty. As such, the cut of meat you use is unimportant, I just bought some diced beef from the butcher.

What you will need:

Butter (I used salted)
1 small brown onion
400 g of beef (any old cut will do)
2 crushed garlic cloves
1 tsp of finely chopped thyme
750 ml beef stock
350 ml milk
1 bay leaf
ketjap manis
Plain flour
5 eggs
Bread crumbs
Vegetable oil to use to fry the bitterballen
Your mustard(s) of choice

Now you will need to begin this the day before you serve them so that the filling has time to set in the fridge overnight.

To begin add a tablespoon of butter to a large pot and fry the chopped up onion until it browns a little. Add in the thyme and the crushed garlic and stir together. Add in the meat and brown.

Add the stock, milk and the bay leaf and bring to the boil and then let it simmer happily away for about 2 hours. Have a glass of wine, read a book, contemplate the meaning of life, or do what I actually did in that time - make incredibly cute gingerbread snowflakes!

Once the meat is falling apart nicely turn off the stove and strain the liquid - making sure to save it in a separate bowl - and place the meat in a large dish. Pull apart the meat using two forks so there are no large pieces remaining.

Place 3 tablespoons of butter in a fry pan and melt. Add in 75 g (or half a cup) of plain flour and combine. Whisk in about 310 ml of the strained liquid and continue until the mixture is beautifully smooth and very thick - this happened so fast and easily for me I thought perhaps I had done something wrong!

Add this sauce to the meat and combine, along with 1 tablespoon of the ketjap manis. You may want to add in a little salt - but for me it tasted really good without adding anything more. Some recipes advocate adding in things such as parsley - which I hate with a passion and have omitted from this recipe - feel free to add this or nutmeg if you enjoy the added flavour.

Make sure the mixture is evenly spread out in the dish and then cover the dish in cling wrap and put in the fridge overnight.

Day Two

By this point your mixture should be well and truly firm - but if it is not, don't stress, it is still not so hard to roll them into balls if it is a little soft - just put a little flour on yours hands first.

Start a production line - put some plain flour on a plate, whisk some eggs in a bowl next to it, cover another plate in breadcrumbs and finally an empty container in which to place the finished bitterballen.

Use a teaspoon to take small amounts of the mixture and roll them into balls - cover them first in flour, then dip them in the eggs, then cover them evenly in bread crumbs, dip them again in the eggs and again in the breadcrumbs. Make sure the bitterballen are properly coated and that the breadcrumb does not have cracks or they could fall apart when you fry them. Repeat for the remaning filling - you should get around 35 - 40.

I then placed the finished bitterballen in the fridge until the guests arrived a couple of hours later - you could also freeze any additional ones for another day.

To fry these tasty bites, use a little deep fryer like this one, or a heavy saucepan filled one third of the way up with the vegetable oil and heated to around 180 degrees Celsius. Fry the balls until they are golden brown and then transfer them to a paper towel covered plate to take off excess oil.

Serve with mustard and enjoy while they are still nice and warm.

Now, to finish packing for Sweden!

Smoked salmon and dill on pumpernickle with apple and cashews

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:10:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago Geoff and I were both on holidays and I was inspired to make us this delicious breakfast of pumpernickel with cream cheese, smoked salmon and fresh dill, couple with sliced apple and a few roasted cashew nuts.

We roasted the cashew nuts a day or two earlier in the oven, sprinkled with a little salt and also used them in a wonderful stir fry I will post up.

It took about 4 minutes to make, and was fresh, tasty and quite healthy. Yum!

Fresh Pasta

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 05:04:00 +0000

Last weekend Geoff and I were watching this TED video by William Li about cancer fighting foods, and it inspired me to cook something using tomatoes.

The video is well worth watching, and although it reiterates many of the foods that have been recommended for their health benefits over the years, it is good to be reminded that I should make an effort to cook some of them more often, and that they really do have a positive impact on your health.

Just to summarise, some of the things he highly recommends are: green tea, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, oranges, lemons, apples, red grapes, red wine, bok choy, soy beans, ginseng, artichoke, pumpkin, tuna, garlic, tomato and olive oil.

Rather than made the pasta myself, we decided to try pasta from a lovely store near our house called Donninis Pasta that we have been meaning to try for some time. We chose artichoke agnolotti.

The pasta was beautiful and fresh and had a lovely flavour. I am looking forward to trying the pumpkin and almond agnolotti very soon.

I decided to make a simple tomato sauce to go with it, which took no time at all to make, but tastes delicious.

You will need:
For two people

6 large ripe tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic
Fresh basil
Olive oil
Salt
Sugar

Simply cut the tomatoes in half and place onto a tray or into a largish dish. Chop up the garlic into slivers and stick them into the tomatoes, about 2 slivers each. Chop up some basil and stick this into the tomatoes as well. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle some salt over the top.

Place in an oven at 200 degrees Celsius for about 40 minutes.

Once cooked, I like to mash it together with a potato masher so it is a little more rustic in texture, however if you prefer it to be more smooth, then use an electric mixer. Sprinkle in half a teaspoon of sugar and a little more salt to taste.

Boil a pot of water, and then place the pasta in to cook for about 5 minutes. Drain and serve. Very easy and delicious!

Kanelbullar

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:57:00 +0000

Kanelbullar are delicious little Swedish cinnamon and cardamon rolls, traditionally eaten as a part of fika, which is basically Swedish for having a chat over coffee and little cakes like this. What a delightful word, it is things like this that made me love the Swedish language.

I made these for my last Swedish class of the semester a couple of weeks ago, and they were eaten very very quickly! I was actually surprised how easy these are to make, and how little time they took. I'll be making them regularly I think.

Geoff and I are off to Sweden in a couple of weeks for one of my best friend's wedding, so I am looking forward to having lots of delicious Swedish food there.

The recipe I used can be found here.

What you will need:

For the buns

25g of yeast (I used dried yeast)
75g of butter
2 and a half dl of milk
Half a dl of white sugar
A pinch of salt
1 tsp of cardamon
Around 7 dl of plain flour (you may need a little more, just see how sticky the dough is)

For the cinnamon sugar/filling

50 g butter or margarine
Half a dl of white sugar
2 tsp cinnamon (The recipe says only 1, but the more the merrier I say)

Glaze

An egg

Melt the butter over the stove, and then add the milk until warm (around 37 degrees Celsius). Take off the stove and mix in the yeast allowing it to dissolve. Mix in the salt, cardamon and sugar.

Sift in the flour half a cup at a time - I ended up using a little more that 7 dl to ensure the dough was not too sticky.

Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes to rise. While you are waiting, mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl.

Take the dough out and on a lightly floured bench, roll it into a 20cm x 50 cm rectangle. Spread the butter or margarine over the top. Sprinkle your cinnamon sugar over the butter. Roll the dough from the bottom up and then cut into 1/2 cm slices and place into cupcake containers as shown in the photo below.

Leave these to rise for another 30 minutes.

Whisk your egg and brush this over the top of each kanelbullar, and then sprinkle with pearl sugar. I found pearl sugar in this shop in Melbourne, but it is quite a bit bigger than I would have liked.

Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.

Enjoy with some good friends over a cup of tea or coffee.

A nice variation might be to replace the cardamon in the dough with cinnamon, and to dice up apples to scatter with the cinnamon sugar to make apple scrolls instead.

Spanish Style Chicken with Rice

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Sun, 02 May 2010 10:39:00 +0000

Chorizo and I have a long history. It is the meat I craved the most while I spent two years as a vegetarian. So I'm biased toward Spanish food.

This week, I tried adding some chicken and rice to chorizo. The results were amazing.

There were a few steps, and getting it cooked required a bit more organisation than I normally apply in the kitchen. I recommend slicing the ingredients in advance, as there is not much time between each step once you get started.

You will need:

4 small chicken thighs (I used boneless skin free)
2 chorizo sausages, sliced
160g short or medium grain rice (Calasparra if you're being fancy)
1 small onion, thinly diced
1 red capsicum, thinly diced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 teaspoon paprika
a pinch of saffron threads (if you have them)
250g (1 punnet) cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup oregano (I used a fresh paste)
500 mL chicken stock (use real stock, it matters)
a handful of green beans, cut in half

First, prepare the chicken. Dust the pieces in a mixture of flour and salt, seasoned to taste. Then in a large (24cm) deep frying pan (or paella pan), fry the chicken in a few tablespoons of olive oil on a medium to high heat. The chicken should end up golden after 3-4 minutes. Remove and put aside.

Add the chorizo (yum!) to the pan and cook for a few minutes until golden. Set aside with the chicken.

Add the rice to the oil, stir to coat, and then stir for another 2-3 minutes until browned. From here, it is mostly about adding flavour to the rice.

Add onion, capsicum, and garlic. Stir frequently until the onion is very soft. Takes about 6-7 minutes. Then add the spices and stir until fragrant (1 minute).

Add in the liquid stock, tomatoes, capsicum, and chorizo. Place the chicken on top and bring to a simmer. Cover with a lid or with foil and cook for 10 minutes. Add the beans and cook covered for a further 6-8 minutes.

If you can resist the wonderful smell, let it stand for 5 minutes to soak up the remaining liquid. Serve and enjoy!

Based on a recipe from Gourmet Traveller.

Carrot Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 05:20:00 +0000

One of Michelle's favourite cakes is a simple carrot cake. The trick to a good carrot cake is to have the result be moist and not too dense; tasty icing helps too.

This recipe is adapted from a Donna Hay version of carrot cake. You could use other nuts or sultanas, however walnuts & pineapple slices are a winning combination.

You will need:

1 1/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bi-carb of soda (baking soda)
2 teaspoons cinnamon (although I used a bit more)
2 teaspoons nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 1/2 cups finely grated carrot
3/4 cup roughly chopped walnuts (or other nut)
1/2 cup roughly chopped pineapple pieces
250g Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1 lemon
1 cup icing sugar (or to taste)

Start things off by preheating the oven to 180 degrees. You will also need a greased cake tin, preferable spring form as it is easier to extract the cake.

Mix the sugar and oil together in a bowl with an electric mixer for around 3 minutes. Gradually add the 3 eggs and beat well.

Sift the flour, baking powder, bi-carb, cinnamon & ginger over the sugar mixture. It is easier if you combine this separately before sifting.

Now you have a good batter, stir in the carrot, walnuts & pineapple pieces.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for around 55-60 minutes.

For the icing, combine the cream cheese, some lemon rind and the sugar together and then spread over the cake. If you have any left over, sprinkle some of the walnuts over the top.

Now watch the cake disappear. Ours was a great treat on Good Friday and was gone within a day between four people. With all the carrot, it was a healthy treat, right?

Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:00:00 +0000

Hello! Has it really been over a month since I last posted? Let me dust away the cobwebs and bring you a new recipe.

But before then, many many things have happened in the last month, the most important and exciting of which is that Geoff and I are now engaged!

Geoff is also travelling quite a bit for work, and I am back finishing my masters, so all is well, but very very busy.

The recipe today is Sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce. I have not been able to find much information on where this recipe is from, some sources say England, others New Zealand and others Australia. In any case, it is delicious, and I am sure it must be slightly healthy, what with all the dates... hmmm (strategically ignoring the cream, sugar, cream and oh yes, cream).

The recipe I used is from the Australian TV show called Masterchef, which I read somewhere was the highest rating TV show in Australian history. This would not surprise me, as I really don't watch much TV but I made an effort to watch this show on a regular basis, as it was so good. This was one of their many many delicious recipes, so I would recommend having a look at their website to find more.

You will need:

For the pudding itself:

180 g chopped, pitted dates
1 1/4 cups of water
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
3/4 cup brown sugar
60 grams of butter, soft
2 eggs
1 cup of self raising flour

For the almond praline:

1/2 cup of caster sugar
1/4 cup slivered almonds

For the butterscotch sauce:

50 g butter
1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of cream
1 tsp of vanilla extract

Ok, lets get started with the pudding. Preheat the over to 180 degrees Celsius and butter the pans you intend to cook the pudding in. I normally use a cake pan, but you make make little individual puddings as well if you like.

Chop the dates and add them and the water into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Then remove from the heat and add in the bicarb soda and stir in order to break down the dates. Leave to cool, but stir every now and then.

In a bowl, add the sugar and butter and mix with an electric mixer, adding in one egg at a time. Once light and fluffy, add in the date mixture and then fold in the flour.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin and place in the over for at least 30 minutes. The recipe says 40, but mine would have been overcooked, so just check in case it needs 10 minutes more.

Now for the almond praline. Sounds easy... just don't leave it on the stove and get distracted by a book and set the fire alarm off... hmmm... not that I would ever ever have done that!! lalala

Cover a baking tray in baking paper and sprinkle almonds over it. Add the sugar into a saucepan with 2 tablespoons of water. Swirl the pan around and take off the heat once the mixture is beautiful and golden. Pour over the almonds and leave to cool.

Last but not least, the butterscotch sauce, one of the most delicious things on earth. Add the butter, cream, sugar and vanilla to a saucepan and leave on low heat until the butter is melted. The turn up the heat to boil, and finally reduce the heat until the sauce thickens.

For lazy days, you really do not need the almond praline, the rest of the recipe has more than enough sugar to put even the most sweet obsessed people into a sugar coma for a week or so... but it does look very cute!

Serve your sticky date pudding on a plate, drizzled with the butterscotch sauce, with a piece of almond praline, and maybe a little cream or ice cream to finish.

Enjoy and be merry, and remember, there is fruit in this recipe, so it must be ok!! (ok, well at least it tastes divine!)

Delicious Red Capsicum Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:04:00 +0000

I apologise for such a long time between recipes, but to be honest, lately I have had little to no desire to post, but rather have been reveling in university holidays. But now it is time for a new recipe, which can be eaten not only on a beautiful wintry night, but also in summer (just chill it first).

I am also excited to post in the near future some recipes from a beautiful German cookbook I bought in Bavaria around Christmas, so keep your eyes open for those in the next month. Many of the recipes are biscuits which I don't think I have posted here before, so that will be a nice addition to the blog I think.

You will need:

6 large red capsicums
4 -5 lemons
Bacon
Sour cream
Vegetable stock
Olive oil
Salt

Simply slice and de-seed the red capsicums (I think maybe they are called peppers in other countries?) and place them on a tray. Brush them with a little olive oil and pop them into the oven at about 200 degrees Celsius. Leave them in there until the skins start to turn black and then remove them from the oven to cool for a little while.

Once the slices have cooled enough to pick them up quite easily without fear of third degree burns, peel off the skins (oh what fun Geoff and I had doing this!) and then place the skinless slices into whatever pot you intend to use to make the soup.

Once completed use a hand held bamix type mixer (If you do not have one, then place the slices into a blender) and mix until smooth. Juice your lovely lemons and add the juice to the soup (add the extra lemon if you prefer the soup to be a little more tangy, which is what I think this soup is all about really).

Add in 250 ml of vegetable stock and mix it all together and then leave to slowly heat on the stove whilst you make the delicious bits of crispy baconness.

Slice about 4 pieces of bacon into little squares and fry in a fry pan with some olive oil and a little salt (smoked bacon is ideal) until the pieces are nice and crispy.

To serve ladle the soup into bowls, add a generous dollop of sour cream and sprinkle some of the bacon over each serving and mostly importantly, enjoy!

Delicious!!!! And healthy! And being such a lovely red colour helps too I think.